Railway cattle-guard.



ZZZ/7 4 PATENTEDAUG. 13, 190-7. M. E WAGNER & J. B. WISEMAN.

RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 5. 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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ms NDRRIS PETERS WASHINGTON, n. c.

No. 863,241. PATENTED AUG. 13, 1907.

M. E. WAGNER & J. B. WIsRMAN.

- RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

APPLICATION IILED SEPT. 5. 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARION E. WAGNER, OF PIOKERING, MISSOURI, AND JAMES B. WISEMAN, OF

. ORESTON, IOWA.

RAILWAY CATTLE-GUARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1907.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, l\/IARION E. WAGNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pickering, in the county of N odaway and State of Missouri, and J AMES B. WIsEMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Creston, in the county of Union and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Railway Cattle-Guard, of-which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide a railway cattle guard of simple, durable and inexpensive construction, which guard normally lies flat below the level of the railway rails adjacent to a roadway crossing the track, said guard being so arranged that if an animal on said roadway should attempt to, pass to the railway track, it will throw the cattle guard to an upright position and thus form a barrier that will posi tively prevent the animal from passing off of the road and upon the railway track.

A further object is to provide a guard of this kind, which, if elevated when a train is approaching from either direction, will be forced down by the train, but will not be broken or tend to derail the train but which can be readily'and easily placed in operative position after the train has passed over it.

A further object is to provide an improved means for connecting the cattle guard with the railway rails.

Our invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in our claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a plan view of a cattle guard embodying our invention and applied to a railway track. Fig. 2 shows a transverse, sectional view illustrating the'cattle guard and connected parts in their normal positions. The dotted lines show the positions of the same parts with the guard elevated. Fig. 3 shows a like view with the cattle guard in position overlapping the operating platform, and Fig. 4 shows an enlarged detail view illustrating the means for clamping the device to a railway rail.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate railway rails and cross ties supporting them. On one of the cross ties adjacent to a roadway crossing a track, are three hinged platforms 12, the central one arranged between the rails and the outer ones arranged adjacent to the outer sides of the rails, each being connected by hinges 13 with one of the cross ties. At the edges of said platforms opposite from the hinges are the projecting bars 14 provided with slots 15, for purposes hereinafter made clear.

The guard proper is composed of a transverse shaft 16 arranged beneath the rails with its ends projecting beyond the outer faces of the rails. Attached to said shaft are a number of hooks 17 designed to enter the slots 15 and capable of being withdrawn from said slots when moved downwardly and forwardly, as shown in Fig.3. We have provided for supporting this shaft under the rails 10 as follows: Beneath each rail is a bearing member 18 with two bearing members 19 above them to overlap the top of the railfiange and bolts 20 are provided to connect these bearing members at the sides of the shaft. By this arrangement, the shaft is firmlyheld to the rails and permitted to rotate freely in the bearings. Fixed to the side of the shaft opposite from the hooks 17 are a number of guard bars 21, those outside of the rails connected near their outer ends by the cross pieces 22 and those between the rails connected by the two cross pieces 23 and 24. Fixed to the central portion of the shaft 16 is an arm 25 to whicha link 26 is pivoted. This link is also pivoted to a rod 27, which rod has the contractible coil spring 28 fixed to and wound upon its outer end, the other end of said spring being fixed to a staple 29 attached to the adjacent cross tie 11. Adjacent to the outer ends of the cattle guard and platforms are the fences 30 arranged to protect the ends of the guards and platforms.

In practical use, the entire device may be readily, quickly and easily placed in position by hinging the platforms to one of the cross ties and clamping the shaft 16 to the rails, then connecting the hooks 17 with the extensions 14 and finally attaching the spring 28 to a staple 29, whereupon the device is ready for use. The spring 28 normally holds the guards flat upon the ties and the hooks 17 normally hold the platforms above the cross tie. If an animal should step upon any one of the platforms, its weight would lower the platforms and this would throw the hooks 17 downwardly and the cattle guards upwardly against the pressure of the spring and when this is done, cattle will be prevented from passing from the platforms in the direction of the guard. When the weight is removed from the platform, the guards will descend with the aid of the spring 28.

If it is desired, to clean out the space under the platforms, the operator need only elevate the guards to a point where the hooks 17, willdetach themselves from the extensions of the platforms, whereupon each platform may be independently elevated upon its hinges and access had to the spaces under them.

If a train, approaching from either side, should strike a cattle guard when in its elevated position, it would, when coming from the side toward the platforms, engage the guard and force it downwardly to its normal position, or if coming from the other side it will engage the guard and force it to position lying over the platforms, but in either instance neither the platforms nor guards would-be materially injured.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim 110 and desire to secure by Letters Patent oi the United States, therefor is- 1. In a device of the class described. the combination of a hinged platform having slotted extensions at its free edge, a hinged cattle guard, a spring for normally holding the cattle guard in a substantially horizontal position and hooks projecting from the cattle guard and entering the slotted extensions, said hooks normally holding the free edge oi the platform elevated and shaped to withdraw from the slotted extensions when the cattle guard is swung upwardly to a point near a vertical position.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with a railway track, of three platforms hinged to one of the cross ties of the track, one of them standing between the rails and the others outside of the rail, slotted extensions projecting beyond the free edges of the platforms, a

shaft, two bearings for the shaft, means for detaehabl'y clamping said hearings to the under surfaces of the railway rails, hooks fixed to said shaft and inserted in the slotted extensions, guard bars fixed to the other side of 20 the shaft, an arm fixed to the shaft, a link connected therewith, a rod pivoted to the link and a contractihle coil spring fixed at one end to said rod and at its other end to one of the cross ties near the free ends of the guard bars.

May 15, 1906.

MARION E. WAGNER. JAMES B. WISEMAN.

Witnesses to signature of Marion E. Wagner:

WILLIAM R. McKnn, M. H. Harms. Witnesses to signature of James B. Wiseman:

Ron'lf. .T. WISEMAN, .T. RALPH ORWIG.

Des Moines, Iowa. 

